Inscribed on back 'lutherburg' for
Philip James de Loutherbourg

1740 - 1812

An early Romantic painter, printmaker, illustrator and scenographer, especially known for his landscapes, battle paintings and innovative scenery designs. He worked in Paris and was admitted to the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1767. In 1771 he went to London, hired by David Garrick to create scenic effects at the Drury Lane Theatre. He became a British RA in 1780. He was famous for devising a polygraphic system for reproducing paintings in colour. It is very difficult to tell these rare reproductions from the original. The painting illustrated here could, it is hard to tell, be one of these.

The picture shows a pastoral view of a young peasant boy with his haversack admiring the vista over the countryside beyond. To the right in the foreground, a rocky outcrop and a small tree are painted in silhouette, suggesting daybreak, and to the left, similar hilly chalk formations are depicted, covered in lush green growth. The free modelling of the cloud formations above echo the shape of the landscape below, suggesting a harmony between the heavens and the earth, and the lone traveller who is passing through.

Exhibited:

Tate Britain
National Portrait Gallery
National Maritime Museum
Victoria & Albert Museum